Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early

"A double debut that's double the fun!"

The definitive answer (also in verse) to the all-important question: “Why do I have to go to bed so early when everyone else gets to stay up late?” As you’ll learn from the animals (many of whom are not chickens, by the way) in this book, “sooner or later, we all need to sleep.”

Erica was featured as a “Writer to Watch” by Washingtonian magazine in the 2006 Top Local Books & Authors issue.

George Mason University professor Susan Richards Shreve - author of more than a dozen children's books and 11 novels for adults, including A Student of Living Things, out this month - recommends Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early, a picture book for young children by Erica Perl: "It's an imaginative story in verse about the crazy-making subject of bedtime. Her next book, Ninety-Three in My Family, due in September, has the same infectious rhythm."

ALA Booklist(starred review) by Gillian Engberg"From chickens to hamsters, from rabbits to sheep. Sooner or later we all need to sleep," begins this charming countdown to bedtime in a barnyard. At five o'clock, chicks take their baths and snuggle into their coop. At eight, "bun-dads and mommies . . . put their young rabbits in footy pajamies." Each hour brings bedtime for a new animal. At last, only the rowdy hamsters are still playing. Then morning comes, and the rooster rises, followed by all the other animals, including "YOU." Children will delight in recognizing the familiar sleepy-time routines in Perl's infectious, bouncing rhymes: the bunnies want the same story, even though "they've all heard it eighteen times before"; the fish "sons and daughters" all want "just one more glass of water." Bates' acrylic paintings-in rich hues, textures, and appealingly simplified shapes-capture the delicious chaos and tumble of toddler bedtime and cast the deep night, when everyone is asleep, as reassuring, safe, and peaceful. Cropped to varying sizes and nicely positioned with several images per page, the art will give children plenty to notice and point to. Together, the words and pictures make a clever, winning offering that soars above other all-too-common bedtime books.

Detroit Free Pressby Janis Campbell If bedtime always comes too soon for your child, you'll both enjoy Chicken Bedtime Is Really Early by Erica S. Perl. "From chickens to hamsters, from rabbits to sheep, sooner or later we all need to sleep" begins this delightful barnyard bedtime tale. (Chickens head to bed at 5.) The bright blues, reds and yellows of animal portraits by George Bates, whose work has appeared for adult readers of the New York Times and New Yorker, capture the whimsy.

Long Beach Press-Telegraphby David Ross A variety of animals complete their bedtime rituals before retiring for the night. Chickens are the first to hit the hay after brushing their teeth and washing their faces. The rest of the barnyard animals follow in short order until everyone has bedded down. When all diurnal creatures are asleep, the nocturnal hamsters begin their noisy routines. As written by Perl, this story has a punchy rhythm that pulls the reader along. Kids will find comfort in the familiar rituals of bedtime, the repetition of which should slow their engines.